Word Association
by Illusionary Ghost
Summary: A friendly game of "words" causes undue tension when Inuyasha says the wrong thing. chapter 3 up
1. Word Association 1

January 26, 2002

Word Association 

By Yashira

The fire crackled and flickered as small sparks, lighting up the evening air with vibrate little buzzes, flew upward like recently freed fireflies. Kagome sat there, crossed legged, dark eyes staring down into the flames as Sango moved to sit beside her. "Kagome-chan," She began softly as her eyes followed the flicker of sparks, "You have an idea?"

Kagome scrunched up her lips and reached gingerly forward, her fingers grasping gently on the half burned stick that stuck out from the fire. She glanced up at into her friend's waiting eyes. "Word Association?" 

Shippo sat huddled in Miroku's lap, his eyes staring wide at Kagome, as the young girl reached forward and stirred the flames. "Word… association?" Miroku, blinking at Sango with a question colouring his violet eyes, looked confused. Sango shrugged and returned his look of confusion with one of her own. 

"Yeah, it's really simple." Kagome replied as she dropped the stick into the orange flame and sat back down. Her brown eyes were humorous. "I'll say a word and you have to say the first thing that pops into your head."

Miroku looked at her dubiously, one eyebrow arching up questioning, as Shippo blurted out, "But that's not really much of a game."

Kagome grinned and turned to Sango, "Oh really, watch this. Sango, I'm going to say a word and you just say the first thing that pops into your head."

Sango's brown eyes narrowed as if in question, but she nodded regardless, "Okay."

"Miroku…"

"Pervert."

"Hey, what the heck are you doing?" Miroku interrupted, his voice clearly nonplussed, as he jumped to his feet. "You call that a game."

"Hey I like this game," Sango remarked suddenly, "Give me another word."

"Hey," Miroku began in earnest protest, as Shippo hopped quickly to the ground. Kagome, however, was already speaking the next word.

"Shikon no Tama."

"Too many pieces."

"Naraku.."

"Grrrr."

"Is that a word?" Shippo asked thoughtfully as poor Miroku helplessly shrugged;

"My good name…"

"What good name?" Shippo inquired as he cocked his head to the side, "Don't you usually end up touching women?"

"Yeah, but they make it sound bad."

"And it isn't?"

Kagome cocked her head to the side and looked thoughtful, "Love."

"Hate."

"Oi, what the hell are you guys doing?" Inuyasha moved smoothly, his quick footsteps taking him from the shadows of the woods and into the light of the campfire and their small clearing within moments. He carried with him a stag, draped over his shoulders, as he stopped short of Kagome and Sango. "She runs out of supplies and I have to go hunting… AND YOU people are doing nothing, but talking?!"

"It's a word game…" Miroku explained as he walked over the grassy confines of ground, his robes swirling around him, to get to Inuyasha. The fire cracked and sparked as Inuyasha gave one of those. 'I'm not amused,' looks.

"And don't tell me no one went to get more wood either.. Why do I have to do everything?" Behind them Kagome and Sango continued on with the game.

"Wood."

"Forest."

"Ah, calm down, we have enough for now…" He looked thoughtfully at the girls and then smiled at Inuyasha, "Care to give it a try, it seems you need a partner for that game."

"Feh, how could I have fun with words?"

As if on cue both Kagome and Sango fell over laughing with the last exchanged of words.

"Inuyasha."

"Loudmouth."

"Monk."

"Letch."

Miroku and Inuyasha both wore the classic teardrops. "Hmm say, Inuyasha you sure you don't care to try?"

"Tell me how to do this…" He muttered angrily, "Loud mouth…eh?"

Miroku explained in about 10 words and less as he shook his head at the girls. "Okay, I would say something like, "Kouga" and you would-"

"Wimpy wolf."

  
Miroku nodded, grinning. "Wow you picked it up fast…"

"Cowardly, stupid, idiotic…"

He paused and gave Inuyasha a worried look. "Inuyasha... that's enough…"

"Moron, jerk…"

"Hey!" Letting his staff smash down on Inuyasha's head with a loud crash, Miroku gave him a dirty look. "Only one word you got I? Gee, leave it to you to get carry away with it."

Inuyasha growled in reply, his low hiss punctuated by repeated laughter from Kagome and Sango.

Miroku rubbed his eyes, "Sesshomaru." 

"Bastard."

"Tetsusaiga."

"Sword."

Miroku stopped a moment, looking extremely bored. Why did Sango and Kagome make this look entirely like fun, but with Inuyasha it just seemed more like a chore. "Okay.. how about Kagome…"

"Kikyo."

Sango and Kagome stopped abruptly, their laughing cut short as if in mid cry.

Miroku wore another sweat drop as he glanced behind him to where he could clearly see the looks in Kagome and Sango's faces. Inuyasha whose back was to them, looked up into Miroku's face with a 'you set me up' look.

Kagome, temple vein to the ready, turned to Sango. "Idiot."

"Um.. Jerk.." Sango looked entirely too nervous.

"…"

"Kagome-chan?"

Inuyasha's fists narrowed at his side as Miroku backed away slowly. "Kagome, it's just a game.. it doesn't mean anything right?"

The flickers from the fire jumped in a shower of trembling sparks as Kagome shoved another stick into the flame. She did not answer Miroku's question.


	2. Word Association 2

February 1, 2002

By Yashira

Word Association 2

After a moment of unnerving silence, Inuyasha called out to her, his voice casual like although he shifted on his feet uncomfortably. "Kagome?" He was standing off to the side, half posed to... what run away? Was he that afraid of her reaction? Yet she control the mighty power of "osuwari" and he wasn't taking any unnecessary chances with getting one of her "sits" again. "Kagome?" His voice had a hint of concern now and he turned to face her even more. It made him even more nervous when she went quiet on him.

"…"

Shippo scuttled forward, climbing quickly up Inuyasha's legs until he rested against his shoulders. "You idiot, why do you keep saying stuff that will send Kagome away?!" He smacked the white haired hanyou with his small fists, and Inuyasha let out a threatening low growl that vibrated ominously in his chest. Without waiting another moment, the little kitsune ran scrambling to the safety of the monk. 

"Stupid runt," Inuyasha muttered angrily as he smoothed back his milk-white hair. "Who wanted to play this stupid game in the first place…"

It took a moment, just a fraction of a second, but all eyes turned directly to Kagome. She was looking away from them, her words soft as cotton, "I'm getting up right now.." Her words, bare slivers of sound, lost themselves in the whisper of the night breeze.

"Oi, Kagome…" Inuyasha began again, this time his words truly did sound worried. Either she was about to use the "word" or burst into tears, and both prospects alarmed him. He didn't have any express wish to experience either of those. "Kagome?" No answer. She was moving away from the fire, from them… and from him.

"I would leave her alone if I were you…" Miroku warned as Inuyasha when he saw the boy start forward. 

"If it wasn't for you I wouldn't be in this mess." He glared at Miroku, gold eyes narrowly to thin slivers. 

"That's only a technically…" He dismissed with a way of his hands as he glance over to the stag that had been left lying on the ground. He gestured to Sango to help him carve up the deer as Inuyasha growled.

"You bastard! What the fuck were you thinking saying Kagome's name."

Miroku adjusted the beads around his right hand and turned to look at Inuyasha carefully, "You're the one who said Kikyo."

"Gees, I can't believe you two idiots. Sango interjected as he knelt by the dead deer, "II recall it took both of you, but it isn't going to change the damage already done."

"Damage?" Inuyasha really looked concerned. "What.. what do you mean?"

Sango sighed and let her fingers trail slowly along the deer's pelt as she looked back up to Inuyasha, "She took it hard.. I wonder if there must have be something more to this game.. afterall."

"Oi.." he began looking extremely uncomfortable, "What does that mean?"

"Well she has such a big heart and Inuyasha doesn't even-" Miroku stopped and glanced thoughtfully between Sango and Inuyasha. "Ah, I spoke out loud."

"What?! Hey you, If you got something to say, then say it Miroku." Inuyasha voice blasted at him, the tone expressing angry and fury that matched his fingers that were making tell tale fists, "You say it to me."

Miroku blinked, smiled suddenly, and shook his head dismissively. "Far be it from me to help you in these matters…"

"Miroku." Sango whispered, surprise colouring her speech as she blinked. "That never stopped you before."

Miroku nodded gingerly before glancing off to the side, "Yeah well, if Inuyasha can't take a hint now about his relationship with Kikyo, him, and Kagome... far be it from me… to slap... some sense … into his thick stubborn head.." During each of those pauses, his staff made a quick beeline to Inuyasha's head, bearing down with hard thuds and Miroku's tone of voice became harder and more gruff, "Like I can tell him that saying Kikyo's name when he leaves poor Kagome-sama's feelings hanging in air... are pulling her to pieces… like…" 

He stopped in mid swing, his eyes looking around at the others in surprise as Inuyasha's honey eyed gaze threw double-edged daggers at him.

"You done beating me yet?"

* * *

Kagome knelt by the stream's edge as she let her nimble fingers glided within the cool currents in absent-minded swirls. She spoke softly and quietly to herself.

"Mother… father. Brother... sister. Heart… broken." On and on she spoke, word pairing associations with one another as she gazed into the crystal water without really seeing the cold ripples in the liquid surface. "Old… new. Child… adult. Duty… responsibility. … Kikyo…." She broke off with a sigh, drawing her wet fingers back into her lap to wipe them dry. _He said Kikyo in reply to my name. Kikyo who he promised to protect and follow into death... What connection does my name have to hers? He can not love me nor return my feelings... so why think of me when thinking of her?_

"Kagome…"

"…."

"Oi Kagome…"

"Yeah?" Her voice was dull and distance as if she were trying to remain casual.

He swallowed abruptly, his movements soft and quiet, before he crossed over to join her. "Still mad?"

"Not really…" She trailed off with a indifferent shrug as the silence between them grew unbearable. 

Last time she said something like that, she'd used the word "sit" and "idiot" so much that Inuyasha had felt the pain of it for hours after. "Kagome…"

"Copy."

He froze, staring at her in shock. "Kagome?"

"Replacement." Her words were soft, her dark gaze fixed ahead. She refused to look at him.

He stared at her, his gold eyes registering confusion, before he realized what had just happened. He spoke softly, his voice a bare whisper. "Shippo."

"Itoto."

"Sango."

"Oneesama."

"Miroku."

"Tomodachi."

He hesitated, breaking the rhythm for a few moments, before he got enough nerve to say his own name. "…Inuyasha…"

"…."

His heart jerked in his chest, beating so hard that he was sure she could hear it. No answer? Not even to his name? He stared at her, his face registering the uneasiness that was swimming inside him. "I didn't mean…"

She cast sad eyes to the side, her head shaking at him as if he shouldn't say anything more. She still was refusing look at him. "Don't bother answering… please."

"Kagome I…"

"Go away." Her tone had started to crack.

"No."

She turned her face to his, her eyes blurring, as she spoke to him, her tone breaking. "Why can't you just leave me alone? It was nothing, but a stupid game."

"If it was only a stupid game, why are you crying?" He pointed to her face; his honey eyes watching her carefully.

"I'm not crying, you jerk!" She rubbed at her tears in frustration; surprised to find them there before she furiously began to chafe at her eyes.

"You idiot, you'll only make it worst. Stop that!" When she refused to listen he had to physically restrain her hands and hold them to the side forcefully, "I didn't mean it Kagome. It's just that both of you are in my mind. I can't think of one without the other… You both consume my thoughts."

"Both of us?" She turned her face to the side, unable to go on any further. ~It's one too many... or should I be happy I had some place in his thoughts at all...~ 

He let out an anxious sigh and looked down towards the river bed, "Kagome come back to the campsite… it's not safe here alone."

She was silent.


	3. Word Association 3

April 24, 2002

Word Association 3

By Yashira

(Author's Note: Please don't hurt me. I've been meaning to write this chapter… honest. Hopefully, this will conclude the three parts.)

With a moment that seemed to drag on for days, Kagome eventually rose shakily to her feet. She dimly dusted off her skirt before she stretched her arms with a forward leaning motion. "I guess _we_ should go back to the camp," she replied as she tried to stifle back a yawn. "No sense making them worry." She turned to face Inuyasha with a soft mollifying look which surprised him. "Okay, let's go."

He swallowed a bit nervously as he realized that it was "THAT LOOK," the one she'd once given before that incorporated both accusation and acceptance of the situation at hand. He knew enough of that look to be worried. "Well… it's about time." He replied carefully. His tone lacked some of the usual gruffness he tended to mark impatience words with. "Miroku and Sango have just put the meat of the deer I caught on the fire, I can smell it from here. You must be hungry."

She dropped her hands to the side, her shoulders giving a dismissive sort of shrug as she answered quietly, "I guess."

Her look and her tone spooked him. She had to be furious to give him that kind of look. In the past he had gone through Kagome running away on him when she got mad, her glaring at him, her going off to stay with Sango and Miroku instead of being in his company, and finally she'd also given him the silence treatment. Right now Kagome looked as if she were trying to blow off what had happened and yet combine some part of the "silent treatment" as if she were still mad. Already she was moving ahead of him as if she couldn't stand his present. "Kagome…"

"It was a word game… that's all it was…" Her footsteps crushed against grass and rotting twigs as she started up the small incline to where the fire of their campfire winked back at her.

"Then why…" His words died on his lips as he stared sullenly after her. Why the hell should he be scared of what she would say to him? He'd come after her like a damn little puppy with its tail between its legs and she had the nerve to try to get the upper-hand? He followed after her, moving swiftly under each and every tree he passed. All along the way his golden eyes stared on her as if…

"Stop staring at me like I'm damaged goods." Kagome's tone, although quiet, had a sort of unhanded quality that betrayed the knowledge that she was getting annoyed.

"?" His eyes batted and blinked in surprised , "I never said-"

She turned around, black hair swirling around her shoulders with a swoosh, as she fixed brown malleable eyes on him. "You said enough." There was definitely an accusing tone to her voice. 

"Damn it," and now Inuyasha's tone went extremely pissed off. Any remorse or concern he may have felt for 'accidentally' saying Kikyou's name in response to Kagome's flew out the window of apology. "Now you're angry? I thought you were depressed."

She bit her lip suddenly as if she'd realized what had happened. She'd meant to blow it off, to let it go, but perhaps she was a little more upset than she had realized. "I'm not mad."

"Oh yes you are," he countered immediately as he crossed his arms over his haori, folding the material in curves as he growled back at her. "You were mad because of what I said… and you walked off to the stream because of it. It's like you're looking for me to say something and I don't know what you want to hear that I haven't said already." 

She turned her brown-eyed gaze to the side, staring at the shadows created by the trees nearby. She bit her lips with a stubbornness that would have make Inuyasha proud if it was being used on Naraku or someone else other than him. Maybe he hadn't said all he should have been saying… maybe she wanted to hear more from him… More than what she knew he was capable of. She let out a frustrated sigh.

"And YOU ARE mad." He replied with a self-righteous verbal push. His tone was getting more irate as her denials got more stubborn. He could not help but scowled at her.

"I'M NOT MAD! IF I WAS MAD YOU WOULD KNOW." 

He glared at her, eyes glittering with accusation as he snapped back, "Oh yeah?"

"Osuwari."

As Kagome started back up the forest path with her head strung high, Inuyasha, from the hole in the ground, barely muttered, "…okay now I know…"

***

Shippo was kicking at the dirt impatiently, "They sure are taking long. Do you wonder what they could be doing?"

Miroku who was in the middle of helping Sango set the last of the deer on the spit that hung over the fire, had one of his squinty eyed knowing looks, "Don't ask Shippo… you're too young."

Sango smacked the monk on the back of head and rolled her eyes at him, "Can you at least not even once think perverted thoughts?"

He rubbed the back of his head gingerly while giving her one of his best, "I can't help myself" smiles. "Well what else could they be doing? They've been gone a long time."

Sango seemed to roll her eyes up to God, asking him(or her) why he couldn't put a bit less pervertism into the man beside her. "That doesn't mean anything."

"But it does, you see…"

There was a muffled oath and tremendous thud in the distance and Miroku glanced up suddenly to see Kagome storming towards where he and Sango stood. "Quick! Where is Myouga?"

Sango looked bewildered as if he had just asked her to step into the fire, "Um Miroku, he didn't come with us on this little trip."

"Well take a look at Kagome's face." He murmured quickly as he turned to smile at the angry face of the incoming girl. "Kagome, welcome back."

"Oh gees…" She'd almost dropped the last of the deer meat as Sango caught the look on Kagome's face. "Something tells me they were arguing… again."

"Something?" Shippo replied with huge big eyes, "Look at Inuyasha…"

He was pushing through the woods behind Kagome and the look he wore on his face, was beyond furious. 

"Hmm, you'd think," Sango murmured to Shippo as Miroku began to talk to Kagome on how well the deer meat would taste once it was cooked, "after he made all this trouble he'd be nicer to her."

Shippo gapped at her, "This is Inuyasha remember. You know, BIG IDIOT."

She nodded, "Yes, the Jerk."

"Loudmouth."

"Two timer…"


End file.
